Licoricia of Winchester

Thanks to Blip I’ve stayed in touch with one of my Scottish colleagues. Pinkhairedlady and her husband are going on an ocean liner to New York. The liner sails from Southampton. As they are so close we arranged to meet today.

I gave them a guided tour of Winchester.

I didn’t take any photographs as we walked around as I was concentrating on where we were going so this evening as we went to choir I took a photo of Licoricia.

From the internet. Licoricia was a medieval businesswoman, working mother, and leader in her community. Like many Jewish women of her time, she was highly educated. This enabled her to succeed in a man’s world despite prejudice. The Jewish community suffered severe religious persecution and the prejudices formed at that time still linger today. The message of “Love they Neighbour as Thyself” at the base of the statue, shared by Jews, Christians and Muslims, is as important to follow now as it was in her time. By the time of her murder, which was never solved, she was probably in very reduced circumstances following the sack of Winchester in the Barons’ War between 1264-7, and continued persecution. Her son Asher was probably forced out of England with the rest of the community in 1290.